implementation of quality tools in small medium industry - Universiti ...

4CHAPTER 2LITERATUREVIEW2.1 Definition of qualityQuality is defined as a degree or grade of the excellence of the product. In themanufacturing industry it is commonly stated that “Quality drives productivity.”Improved productivity is a source of greater revenues, employment opportunities andtechnological advances. Objective of quality is to compliance of a process or itsoutcome with a predetermined set of criteria, which are presumed essential to theultimate value it provides. Quality means less variation in the product. The phraseless variation is a relative one. Less than a product that has more variation. To createa quality product, we minimize the variation in the specification of the product. Thusquality also could mean reliability. This implies that quality product tend to be morereliable. Quality has several major business advantages. Some of them are qualitybuilds customer loyalty, profits margins can be sustained, plus a better impressionhelps expand the customer base. In the long run, quality will reduce the operatingcosts and increase profits. Quality also means larger business profit as themanufacturer can eliminate or reduce waste. Quality is also demanding, difficult,never ending effort to improve worse. There is a great deal of profit to make byquality improvements in products and services, business processes and people. Thepurpose of quality management is to set up a quality and management discipline thatprevents defects from happening in manufacturer’s performance cycle. Toaccomplish this, a manufacturer has to act now in on situations that may causeproblems later. Quality must be measured in order to manage it. The manufacturermust measure the results of how every part of their company is doing at providinginternal and external customers with what they want. [Juran and Godfrey, 1999]